發光植物給"自然光"一詞添新意

Hoping to give new meaning to the term "natural light," a small group of biotechnology hobbyists and entrepreneurs has started a project to develop plants that glow, potentially leading the way for trees that can replace electric streetlamps and potted flowers luminous enough to read by.

爲了給“自然光”這個詞增添新意，一個生物技術愛好者和創業者小組開展了一項發光植物的研究，在此基礎上也許可以研發出取代路燈的樹和能供閱讀用的照明盆栽花卉。

The project, which will use a sophisticated form of genetic engineering called synthetic biology, is attracting attention not only for its audacious goal, but for how it is being carried out.

這項研究將利用基因工程的一種高級形式——合成生物學，而它之所以受到關注，不只是因爲目標大膽，還因爲它的實施方式。

Rather than being the work of a corporation or an academic laboratory, it will be done by a small group of hobbyist scientists in one of the growing number of communal laboratories springing up around the nation as biotechnology becomes cheap enough to give rise to a do-it-yourself movement.

這項研究不是由一個企業或者是一家學術實驗室來完成，它將由一個科學家興趣小組在一家公共實驗室內完成，生物技術的成本已經足夠的低廉，令人們自己動手成爲可能，公共實驗室在全國不斷涌現。

The project is also being financed in a D.I.Y. sort of way: It has attracted more than $250,000 in pledges from about 4,500 donors in about two weeks on the Web site Kickstarter.

這項研究的融資也正通過一種DIY的方式進行：兩週時間左右它便在Kickstarter網上吸引到約4500個出資人，承諾投資超過25萬美元（約合153.53萬元人民幣）的資金。

The effort is not the first of its kind. A university group created a glowing tobacco plant a few years ago by implanting genes from a marine bacterium that emits light. But the light was so dim that it could be perceived only if one observed the plant for at least five minutes in a dark room.

這種研究並非首例。幾年前一個大學社團曾通過將一種發光的海洋細菌注入植物體內而研製出了會發光的菸草植株。但是由於它發出的光線太微弱，只有在暗室裏觀察至少5秒鐘之後人們才能感覺到它的發亮。

The new project's goals, at least initially, are similarly modest. "We hope to have a plant which you can visibly see in the dark (like glow-in-the-dark paint), but don't expect to replace your light bulbs with version 1.0," the project's Kickstarter page says.

這項新研究的目標，至少是初步目標，也同樣保守。該研究的Kickstarter網頁上稱：“我們希望能研製出一種在黑暗中可以被看到的植物（就像夜光顏料那樣），但是不要指望1.0版本就能取代你的電燈。”

But part of the goal is more controversial: to publicize do-it-yourself synthetic biology and to "inspire others to create new living things." As promising as that might seem to some, critics are alarmed at the idea of tinkerers creating living things in their garages. They fear that malicious organisms may be created, either intentionally or by accident.

而該研究的有些目標則是有爭議性的：推廣DIY合成生物的理念以及“激勵其他人創造新生物”。這在有些人聽來可能很是振奮人心，但批評者對這種在自家車庫就能創造生物的造物者的想法產生了警惕。他們害怕有可能會製造出有害生物體，不管是故意還是意外。

Two environmental organizations, Friends of the Earth and the ETC Group, have written to Kickstarter and to the Agriculture Department, which regulates genetically modified crops, in an effort to shut down the glowing plant effort.

兩家環保組織地球之友(Friends of the Earth)和ETC組織(ETC Group)已經致函Kickstarter和農業部(Agriculture Department)，試圖制止對發光植物的研究活動。

The project "will likely result in widespread, random and uncontrolled release of bioengineered seeds and plants produced through the controversial and risky techniques of synthetic biology," the two groups said in their letter demanding that Kickstarter remove the project from its Web site.

這兩個組織在要求Kickstarter從其網站上撤銷該項目的信中稱，這項研究"可能將會導致利用爭議性的、危險的合成生物技術製造出的生物工程種子和植物出現大範圍的、隨機的、不受控制的擴散。”

They note that the project has pledged to deliver seeds to many of its 4,000 contributors, making it perhaps the "first-ever intentional environmental release of an avowedly 'synthetic biology' organism anywhere in the world." Kickstarter told the critics to take up their concerns with the project's organizers. The Agriculture Department has not yet replied.

他們提到，這項研究已經承諾要給4000多名支持者分發種子，這或許是“有史以來第一次將一種號稱'合成生物'的有機體有意地在全世界進行環境性釋放”。Kickstarter讓批評者向項目組織者表達他們的擔心。農業部還未對此作出回覆。

Antony Evans, the manager of the glowing plant project, said in an interview that the activity would be safe.

這個發光植物項目的經理安東尼·埃文斯(Antony Evans)在採訪中稱，這項活動是安全的。

"What we are doing is very identical to what has been done in research laboratories and big institutions for 20 years," he said. Still, he added, "We are very cognizant of the precedent we are setting" with the do-it-yourself project and that some of the money raised would be used to explore public policy issues.

他說：“我們要進行的研究與研究實驗室和大型機構在過去20年中一直進行的研究相同。”他還補充稱，對DIY項目，“我們十分了解我們正在製造什麼樣的先例”，一部分籌集來的資金將用於探索公共政策方面的問題。

Synthetic biology is a nebulous term and it is difficult to say how, if at all, it differs from genetic engineering.

合成生物學是一個模糊的概念，很難把它和基因工程區分開來，或者說根本就分不開。

In its simplest form, genetic engineering involves snipping a gene out of one organism and pasting it into the DNA of another. Synthetic biology typically involves synthesizing the DNA to be inserted, providing the flexibility to go beyond the genes found in nature.

基因工程最簡單的形式是從一個有機體內提取出一個基因，將它植入另一個有機物的DNA中。合成生物學通常是合成一個可供植入的DNA，同時具有可以超出自然界中已有基因範圍的靈活性。

The glowing plant project is the brainchild of Mr. Evans, a technology entrepreneur in San Francisco, and Omri Amirav-Drory, a biochemist. They met at Singularity University, a program that introduces entrepreneurs to futuristic technology.

這項發光植物工程是舊金山一個科技創業者埃文斯和生物化學家奧姆裏·阿米拉夫-德羅利(Omri Amirav-Drory)的創意。他們是在奇點大學(Singularity University)一個向創業者介紹未來主義技術的項目上結識。

Dr. Amirav-Drory runs a company called Genome Compiler, which makes a program that can be used to design DNA sequences. When the sequence is done, it is transmitted to a mail-order foundry that synthesizes the DNA.

阿米拉夫-德羅利經營着一家叫做Genome Compiler的公司，該公司的一個項目可以用於設計DNA序列。排序完成以後，將會傳給一個接受郵購的工廠去合成DNA。

Kyle Taylor, who received his doctorate in molecular and cell biology at Stanford last year, will be in charge of putting the synthetic DNA into the plant. The research will be done, at least initially, at BioCurious, a communal laboratory in Silicon Valley that describes itself as a "hackerspace for biotech."

去年在斯坦福大學(Stanford)拿到了分子和細胞生物學博士學位的凱爾·泰勒(Kyle Taylor)將負責把合成的DNA植入植物體內。這項研究將在BioCurious實驗室完成，至少初步研究如此。BioCurious是一家位於硅谷的公共實驗室，它稱自己是一個“生物技術的黑客空間。”

Whether it will ever be possible to replace light bulbs remains to be seen and depends to some extent on how much of the plant's energy can be devoted to light production while still allowing the plant to grow. Mr. Evans said his group calculated, albeit with many assumptions, that a tree that covers a ground area of 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) by 10 meters might be able to cast as much light as a street lamp.

發光植物是否可以取代電燈泡還有待確定，這同時也取決於這種植物在維持生長的同時將會用多少能量製造光亮。埃文斯稱，雖然存在很多假設，但他的小組還是計算出，一株可以覆蓋100平方米區域的大樹或許可以製造出一盞街燈的光亮。

While the Agriculture Department regulates genetically modified plants, it does so under a law covering plant pests.

雖然農業部對轉基因植物進行監管，但藉助的卻是一項植物病蟲害方面的法律。

Todd Kuiken, senior research associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, who has been studying the governance of both synthetic biology and the do-it-yourself movement, said the glowing plant project was an ideal test case.

華盛頓伍德羅·威爾遜國際學者中心(Woodrow Wilson Center)的高級研究助理託德·庫伊肯(Todd Kuiken)對合成生物學和DIY運動都進行過研究，他稱發光植物工程是一個理想的實驗案例。

"It exposes the gaps and holes in the regulatory structure, while it is, I would argue, a safe product in the grand scheme of things," Dr. Kuiken said. "A serious look needs to be taken at the regulatory system to see if it can handle the questions synthetic biology is going to raise."

庫伊肯說：“它暴露了監管結構中的缺失和漏洞，同時我必須要說的是，從大局上來看這是一個安全的產品。必須嚴格看待監管體系，檢驗它是否能解決合成生物學將會帶來的問題。”